Daily Photo Galleries

Murrysville Photo Galleries

For Jack Bradley, it was a glimpse of his father's Army uniform from Vietnam. For Zachary Fleischauer, it's a family tradition. For Kara Haskins, it never felt like there was another choice.

“It's all a brotherhood,” said Haskins, 18, of Murrysville. “We might be in different branches, we might make fun of each other, but we're a brotherhood.”

Along with four other classmates, Bradley, Fleischauer and Haskins will join that brotherhood this summer. Seven members of the Franklin Regional class of 2014 have enlisted in the military, the most since 2009.

Haskins, Bradley and Mitch Wagner will head to the Marines. Fleischauer already serves as a private, first class, Army reservist. Natalie Tedesco and Sean Nolan also will enter the Army, and Connor Wolff will join the Army ROTC program at Penn State University.

An eighth senior, Anthony Lynch, is in the process of enlisting in the Air Force.

The teens said they have similar reasons for joining the military – namely, the pride of belonging and the order and structure of the military lifestyle.

“It's about a loyalty to our country,” said Wolff, 18, of Murrysville. Unlike the others, he will study engineering full-time at Penn State next year while receiving his military training.

That's a sentiment that high school principal Ron Suvak said he believes students throughout the region understand well.

“I am honored to have worked with these seven individuals over the years and very humbled that they have chosen to make a commitment to defend our freedom,” Suvak said. “There is a community and district-wide focus on citizenship that takes root in all of our students.”

The teens joke and offer fist bumps with one another as their final days at FR wind down. They're ready to move on and build upon the military family they're already established bonds with.

While their classmates are scattering to colleges throughout the region, this group scatters internationally. Fleischauer is off to Italy, he hopes. Haskins and Bradley quip that they will be at “Parris Island University,” a reference to the Marines South Carolina training depot. They will be at the same base, starting basic training just weeks apart, but the pair won't see each other for months. Men and women don't intermingle during training.

These students have big dreams.

Haskins is considering pursuing a career in the FBI. Fleischauer — who wants to work for the Pentagon — is considering a career in counterintelligence. Wagner hopes to work in presidential security, though he isn't sure if he wants a military career, like some of his classmates.

“I've wanted to go military all of my life. It's about personal growth,” Wagner said. “The Marines sounded like fun. They're the bad-ass ones.”

There's nothing special about the class of 2014 that has drawn this group to enlist, they said. But in some ways, it's a continuation of how this group has acted for years.

“We're really strong together,” Bradley said. “We will protect each other, keep each other safe. When I look at the military, it's what we've been doing our whole lives, but now we'll get paid for it.”

Daveen Rae Kurutz is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-856-7400, ext. 8627.

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Print Source

Welcome to PrintSource, a division of Trib Total Media.

We have established a veteran team that provides daily and weekly newspaper companies with a comprehensive set of services that include design, print, packaging and delivery of their products, all from one source and location.

Gone are the days when each facet of newspaper printing and delivery had to be outsourced to different companies and venues. Now, PrintSource provides a viable solution with just one phone call.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.